Another great Reading event. I always love bringing you all to my home town and surprising you with the great riding just over the Thames!

It was also a little stressful at times. On the MTB ride on Saturday almost the entire Long loop was stripped/rerouted. This meant Keith, our course checker, had to work overtime remarking about 4miles of course. In doing this a few of you on the Medium got in front of him and suffered some of this sabotage. So apologies, but you need to ask yourselves what sort of person will wilfully attempt to ruin other peoples ride.

On Sunday or course checker noticed some other pink signs out on the roads. We had a look to see if anyone was running another event, but couldn’t see anything so crossed our fingers and informed you of this at briefing. There was some confusion and a few wrong turns but most people got back OK. It didn’t help that an enterprising Cafe in an industrial estate apparently rerouted our course to their door. I’m not sure if they then routed you back on to the course but I will be investigating ( If any of you know where and the name of the Cafe I’d really like to know )

Lastly, thanks for treating the car park with respect. I saw one person peeing in the woods and we retrieved one piece of litter – so I think we’ll be allowed back.

Cheers

Dean

Rider Times

Thanks to everyone who came and joined us for a ride over the weekend you can download your rider times using the links below -

Parking is available from 07:35. Please use the following
postcode RG8 7QR for directions to the car park, when you are close additional
signs for The Technology Centre can also be followed. Please use this over the event centre postcode.

Ta Dean

Hi All

Firstly, and most importantly, PARKING OPENS AT 7.35am. Please do not attempt to arrive before this time as it will cause problems with traffic and the local roads. We have tarmac parking this year just across from the village hall but it’s gated and these will not be open until 7.35am.

PARKING

For this event we have hard standing at a local company. They have kindly let us have it for free so please do not abuse this facility.

Keep your speed to the 20mph limit

Obey marshals/security personnel

Do not drop litter – take it home or to the event centre

DO NOT URINATE in their parking area. There are plenty of loos at the event centre. If you are seen peeing anywhere on their land you will be asked to leave and we will not allow you to take part in the event.

Do not attempt to enter any of their buildings.

The event centre is back down the lane you drove up, I’d recommend that you get ready to ride and then come over to the event centre.

If you walk to the event centre, please follow the “Walk” signage across the village green, along the gravel and cross the road just past the church. DO NOT walk in the road as it is a dangerous corner.

If it’s getting crowded in the village hall, please take your bikes to the start and leave them in the “Start” carpark. We have staff there so they should be safe.

Finally – do not stand in or obstruct the private drive between the village hall and Start area, it is in constant use.

Just a reminder that the Sunday Sportive is sold out – please do not come to the event hoping for cancellations, we won’t be accepting on the day entries.

PLEASE BRING YOUR HELMET TO REGISTRATION. You will not be able to register without it and you’ll have to go back to your car to retrieve it.

Toll Bridge – From Pangbourne you will have to cross a Toll Bridge – this is 40p each way so make sure you have some change.

PHEW!!!

Right, onto the ride. I have put out the Long loop Sportive today and it was really nice!! The roads as pretty good and it’s lovely scenery. We’ve thrown in a few hills ( Streatley Hill early on for the Long riders ) so take your time and enjoy the day. So, onto the important stuff:-

First though I would like to point out that THIS IS NOT A RACE. You will not be given a rank and all times will be displayed in a non-sortable format in rider number order. Please help us to continue running a popular friendly event by not riding in such a way to obstruct the road and upset other users. Stop at junctions and traffic lights, and obey the highway code. Do not ride at silly speeds around blind bends or on steep descents. We do not insure you for your actions so if you do hit a car or pedestrian YOU will be responsible for any damages caused by your riding.

Registration

This is in the Village Hall, follow signs to registration.

MTB

I have not been out and the course is not due to be put up until tomorrow, but looking at the trails as I have ridden past today, they seem to be dry!! One of the staff rode a lot of the route last night and said there are some muddy patches, but these seem to be in small sections

Distances

Short 15miles elevation 1200ft

Medium 26 miles elevation 2000ft

Long 33 miles elevation 2400ft

It’s not a race!

Please give way to other trail users, walkers, horse riders etc. If you come across a Horse, please let the rider know you are there in plenty of time and follow their instructions. Remember, if you spook the horse it might hurt you or other people and you are responsible for you actions and the consequences!! Please also close all gates you might come across.

SPORTIVE

I hope you all have the day we did today, just right!! The roads are in ok condition but, like the rest of the country, they are prone to pot holes. Please keep your eye out for them and if you are travelling in a group, please shout out warnings to those behind. We also use small lanes, so keep your speed down and be aware that there might be cars around that bend. On larger roads please keep to single file unless it’s safe to do so.

Distances are approx.

Short -34miles Elevation 2000ft

Medium -59miles Elevation 4000ft

Long -86miles Elevation 5900ft

Drink stations are approximately at:-

Short, – 19miles

Medium - 19 & 44 miles

Long - 28, 46 and 71miles

Long loop cut off – 9.45 from the Start. The top Medium loop will be shut down at 1.30pm

Event centre closes at 5pm – Hot food will finish at 4pm.

This is not a race!!

Please obey the highway code, stop at junctions and only ride two abreast where it is safe to do so – not on main roads or winding country lanes where cars travelling at speed will not be able to see you and stop!!!! If you cause and accident, you are responsible for the consequences and any costs.

Maps

I’ll post these up on Friday after we have put out the courses. These will be for info only and are not down loadable, you will get a hard copy at registration.

GPX files

Everyone who has pre-entered will receive a pre-event mail on Thursday afternoon around 6pm that has links to the GPX files and a guide to show you have to view them interactively. If you have not received this by 7pm tonight please check you junk folder, old accounts, your partners email if they booked and make sure you check the address you booked with! These are all common causes for not getting the mail. If you still don’t have them then email me on dean.stacey@evanscycles.com I’ll check your entry and send you a copy.

Comments

hats of to the evans team on this one
loved this ride and am going back in a couple of months once my legs are ready for more climbs
and thats to the evans guy at the second drinks station for helping tweek my bike
once again hats off

take times with a pinch of salt. 3 of us who started together with same start times ended the race 10 minutes apart yet evans time sheet says we ended at exactly the same time with only seconds apart. Time shown is 2.48 and we know 2 of us had times of 2.15 and 2.25. Shame as I wonder who else had incorrect times and didn’t time it themself

Times are definately a bit weird – I made sure that I went through before my son (so that he could finish in a quicker time than me and feel he had beaten me!) but it says that he went through 8 seconds before me. And while there is a start and finish time, the overall time shows as 00:00 for some reason.

Hi Rob.
The timing system works on the last ime it “sees” the chip. So if you went through the start and then let your son ride off in front of you he would dissapear from it’s range whilst you were still within it, hence the difference. The timing systen can be set so it’s really accurate with the antenas on both sides of the tent and the field reduced so that it only reads a small area. As the times are not really what the event is about we just run the antenas on one side and at full power so we make sure we get you all, but the timing area is enlarged. For the MTB event this included a area infront of the tent that extended across the carpark and was reading people in the queue! ( I won’t bore you with “gateing” and why this doesn’t effect start/finish times)

There are a few odd times there, some with start/finish times and no ride time, others with no finish time but a ride time. We are investigating and the SPortive on Sunday was no affected.
Ta
Dean

Want to report another set of removed/sabotaged signs on a key section. There were no signs anywhere from the point Wallingford Rd joined A4074, through the 2 roundabouts on A4074, including the eventual exit to Clack’s Ln.

Was a bit of a trouble since the first round about didn’t have wide enough verges either to stop and look up maps. Felt like an Audax for a while till I finally saw a sign close to where Clack’s lane meets Beggarbush Hill. Quite a few of the Long route riders were lost on those 2 roundabouts trying to figure the right exits.

Other than that, nothing to complain about. I mostly ride in Surrey and Sussex, so loved the change of scenery, and the route. The peanuts at feed stations were a welcome respite from the sweet drinks, energy bars, and cakes that I’d been gorging on all along

Really liked the (too)hot pasty at the finish. Been telling every sportive organiser for a while – bin the goody bags, provide hot food!

One last bit – noticed the lack of rider numbers on the bikes. Small change from other sportives (including KotD), but much appreciated. Helps reduce unnecessary waste (and cost), and reduces derisory looks from non-sportiver riders

Hi
Thanks for the comments.
The other bit of sabotaged route was our fault………… The course strippers had instructions to leave that section in place and ride to the next drink station. Unfortunately I think the heat got to them and they started stripping ( when you turned left out of Streatly and rejoined the medium route you probably didn’t see a pink sign until after those roundabouts). As soon as we realised we had one car chasing them down to stop them, one car and another van resigning the route and myself at the event centre banging my head on the table! Really sorry.

We have always provided hot food and reasonable prices – just because we have you captive doesn’t mean we take advantage.

As it’s not a race I am pretty insistent that we don’t use rider numbers as their inclusion still gives this impression, especially to the general public. This makes it difficult to get photographers though as they like them to identify riders into numerical order, hence the inclusion on KotDs where there are about 3 guys taking pictures.

Thanks to the Evans Ride it Team. Great weather and varied terrain made this a very enjoyable event. Hardest part of the long route was resisting the temptation to pop into the Unicorn pub for a quick pint, maybe next year Keith can coordinate one of the dink stations to this location

Hi Dean, the Sportive was a mixed bag for me! The Event HQ would have been better served in the car park, and I always prefer proper changing rooms and showers, but hey, a proper Tarmac car park is the top priority. Excellent organisation, friendly Evans staff, superb feed stations and simply the best map (being sweat-proof in my back pocket) I’ve had in 3 years of riding Sportives. Which was a good thing, because (for the first time in 3 years!) I missed route markers and got lost. Twice! The right-hander near Stonor and somewhere in Woodcote. I know I wasn’t alone in doing this, so I don’t completely blame myself! I’m glad I opted for the Medium, but I found some of the hills even on that route rather TOO challenging; I struggled to walk up some, let alone ride them. I can do short & steep or long & gentle, but not long & steep – Heart-Rate Monitor says “No!” I suspect an MTBer may have picked this route…. Great goody bag at the end and well done on organising such fantastic weather!

Thanks for the comments.
We are not allowed to set up an HQ in the carpark. It’s a R&D centre so they will not allow this as they don’t want people milling around. In previous years we have used the field next to the start carpark but last year the farmer forgot we were coming and didn’t cut the grass. After we reminded him it didn’t stop raining so he couldn’t and we ended up paying him more to get a few cars on there as we flattened the long grass he was going to use for silage. At this point I decided it was too much stress and decided not to go back. The village hall were devestated as we are a good source of income, and put us onto the current car park owners. At the last minute ( Friday 3pm) I had the brain wave to put registration in the carpark to reduce the amount of traffic going up and down the driveway. This meant that once people had registered and picked up their Racepackes etc they could leave them in the car, rather than having to bring them all the way back and then cycle back to the start. In amonst this I am aware that we could have done with a bit more signage/info about the village hall as it was a bit dead in there on the morning.

I’m aware of a few signage issues at teh points you mention – not sure if any were removed or if we needed a few more.